Reappraisal of the Cranial concept
Author : Jean-Louis Boutin
I make a point particularly of thanking Alain GUIERRE, Ostéopathe, for his assistance in the translation of the various articles. Thanks with Alain LEBRET.
The very principles of cranial osteopathy were challenged for the first time in France by par FERRE JC, CHEVALIER C, LUMINEAU JP, BARBIN JY, in an article entitled « Cranial Osteopathy,delusion or reality » Centre Nantais d'Études et de Recherche Biophysiques - Actual Odontostomatol. (Paris) 1990 Sep;44(171):481-94 . Abstract
" After having outlined the theories of cranial osteopathy (SUTHERLAND, KARNI, UPLEDGER, and, more recently, CLAUZADE and DARAILLANS) the authors deny the latter step by step. 'Primary breathing' is in fact a way of thinking, and the various bones forming the calvaria and base of the skull, which are synostosed in the adult, are cleary incapable of the pretended rhythmic displacements 'described' by the osteopaths.
Moreover, the cerebrospinal fluid, like any liquid, is incompressible and mildly pulsatile.
Conversely, although the brain clearly shows rhythmic pulsations, which every neuro-surgeon notes every day, the latter are exclusively connected to the vascular system".
Jean-Claude HERNIOU, Osteopath D.O., DGBM, has continued this reappraisal during an interview published in the Review Aesculape n° 10 of January - February 1998
Other scientific studies have been undertaken since then, in particular by Dr James M. NORTON :
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A tissue pressure model for the perception of the cranial rhythmic impulse. - JAOA 91(10):975-994, 1991. - Full text
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A challenge to the concept of craniosacral interaction. - AAO Journal 6(4):15-21, 1996. - Full text
Then by a team in Australia : Robert W Moran and Peter Gibbons MB, BS, C, DM-SMedb about
Stephen BARRETT, M.D., on its site : www.quackwatch.org , published an article entitled
The British Columbia Office of Health Technology Assessment (BCOHTA) published in 1999 :
demonstrates that “ there is insufficient scientific evidence to recommend craniosacral therapy to patients, practitioners or third party payers for any clinical condition”.
Dr Steve E. HARTMAN and Dr James M. NORTON published in November 2002 a letter to the Editor of the Journal Physical Therapy stating that :
The same authors published in THE SCIENTIFIC REVIEW OF ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE Vol. 6, N°1 (Winter 2002) p. 23-34 - http://faculty.une.edu/com/shartman/sram.pdf an article :
Abstract :
" We will assess the mechanism purported to underlie the health treatment regime labeled "cranial osteopathy" or "craniosacral therapy." We will then summarize all published reports on interexaminer reliability associated with this modality, reanalyse some previously published data, and critique Upledger's (1977) often-cited study. Our own and previously published findings suggest that the proposed mechanism for cranial osteopathy is invalid and that interexaminer (and, therefore, diagnostic) reliability is approximately zero. Since no properly randomized, blinded, and placebo-controlled outcome studies have been published, we will conclude that cranial osteopathy should be removed from curricula of colleges of osteopathic medicine and from osteopathic licensing examinations.
We submit this series of articles for you to reflect upon the subject of cranial osteopathy.
Jean-Louis Boutin
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